Last night, I had one of
those epiphanies that seem to be self-evident, but sometimes are not. I went
out for dinner with a group of lively, amazing female friends.
That was
excitement enough, but most of them had recently read my new book, SweetKaroline, and they actually wanted to talk about it! They didn’t have to. We
could’ve mentioned the book, perhaps, and moved on. They were genuinely excited
about Sweet Karoline. I believe they honestly liked it and think it’s my best
work.
Our discussions ranged from
“who wrote the diary?” to debates about race and bigotry and child abuse to
questions about how a book or its author becomes well known.
As to the latter, I have
often slipped into pity mode on this score. I tweet, do paid advertising,
plaster myself all over the free sites, and generally try every trick I can
think of to promote my books. My novels aren’t easy reads, I have to admit. But
I know there are people out there (like me) who love to read challenging books.
So I keep slogging and trust me, sometimes I am quite dispirited.
Then along comes that group
of intelligent, spirited, interested women (whom I call the Bosco Bunch). They
are genuinely excited for me. They get the messages in the book. One of them told me she identified with a
huge number of passages. Another said she had garnered a new interest in the
life of black and native Canadians. Those moments made every single second of
cyber-selling worthwhile. Every doubt that I had about being an author was
instantly dispelled. It didn’t matter that most of the world is sailing along
without knowing my name or Sweet Karoline or the Emily Taylor mysteries. The
readers who have ventured into my novels and are happy that they got their
money’s worth are the reasons for publishing.
Meeting with my readers
face-to-face is the best possible scenario. Unfortunately, I can’t always do
that. Thus I reach out to them through cyberspace.
As for the marketing grind,
which I usually despise,
thanks to http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.ca/2013/07/do-you-promote-books-like-dexter.html
I at last have a mantra.
Here’s what they say about book marketing:
“…accept your uniqueness. You
are a writer and a publicist, with your own voice, style, ideas, and
experiences. Be who you are meant
to be.”
So I will pursue more
face-to-face marketing opportunities, because, although they may be fewer and
won’t bring me fame and fortune, they are the kind I love. They are “me”.
At the same time, I vow to
embrace the tweeting and good-reading and shelfari-ing and facebooking and
googling and well, you know the drill. As a writer I don’t love them, but as a
publicist I shall!
Go here for my books: www.catherineastolfo.com
The Sweet Karoline launch dinner was
held at our favourite restaurant, Fanzorelli's.
If you live near Brampton, ON, go get some great food!
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